


Extinguished

by ravenswritingdesk



Category: Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Turned Into Vampire, Dhampirs, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Moroi Vampires, Strigoi Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2019-12-25 20:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18268814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenswritingdesk/pseuds/ravenswritingdesk
Summary: This is my take on the night of when Lucas and Moira Ozera chose to become Strigoi.This is going to be made up of two drabbles, the latter part of which is in the works.





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Some of the dialogue was borrowed from Richelle Mead's "The Turn and the Flame", and a large part of this plot was borrowed from that, but this is largely my own writing.

The decision that would be made tonight weighed heavily on Lucas Ozera's heart. He was terrified, but he hid his true feelings well - at least, from everybody that wasn't his wife Moira or younger sister, Tasha.

Moira had assured him that this was right for them, for Christian. Once it was all over, death would never touch their family, again. That much, she was sure.

Months prior to that night, Lucas had lost two of his close friends. One of them died in a freak skiing accident, and the other in an attack from the very thing he would become before the next morning rose. It put the fear of death in him, and he couldn't stop thinking about his own demise.

"Are you ready, my love?" came Moira's voice as she entered the room. She could tell from her husband's demeanor that he was having second thoughts about their _plan_. Closing the distance between herself and Lucas, Moira took his face in her hands, pressing a reassuring kiss to his lips before pulling back to speak. "It will be time to go soon... It's a pity we have Guardian Locke with us, but it may work in our favor. Christian will be frightened by us, at first."

"I know, Moira. But he won't accept it, either. We've all been raised to expect a certain kind of behavior from Strigoi," he pointed out, his eyes shifting towards the door before focusing back on his wife.

Moira Ozera -- formerly _Szelsky_ \-- was a vision, with chestnut brown hair that curled loosely away from her youthful face, and darker blue eyes, like sapphire where his looked like they'd been intricately carved from ice. She was a charming and confident woman, and that's how he'd managed to fall in love with her, but she was also vain and manipulative.

"He will learn to adjust in time. He is still our son, and we will..." Moira paused, thinking on her words as her thumb smoothed over the corner of his lips. "We will be able to better protect him from harm, this way."

The Strigoi did not have the capability to show true love or compassion - but they did take an alarming amount of pride in what was _theirs_ , and would protect it at any cost. Moira knew she and Lucas would still recognize Christian as their son - she was sure there was some way they could convince him to not be afraid of them - even as their skin changed from pale to _chalky white_ and their irises were bastardized into a cruel shade of crimson.

She had explained the plan in detail to Lucas. Moira, Lucas, and Christian would leave Court the night of the Summer's End Ball. Everybody else would be too busy mingling with each other to focus too much on the early departure of their small branch of the family.

Tasha had controversial beliefs about Moroi politics - beliefs that directly conflicted with the plan. She was also too old to be impressionable - she wouldn't willfully Awaken herself. Moira insisted this little _exodus_ remain a secret from Tasha for those reasons.

Lucas and Moira both knew how badly Christian wanted to stay at the Ball, they just hadn't thought to consider the fact he'd lie to both the guardians in order to get what he wanted. He was a clever young boy, and had already proved once that night just how hard he was to keep track of - apparently, too hard for two highly trained guardians. Once Vinh had recovered Christian from wherever he'd disappeared off to, Lucas couldn't help but smile at his son - Christian was a miniature version of himself.

Lucas was standing outside a black car, now, regarding his younger sister with a sad smile. _"I hope when you look back on tonight, you'll remember how much I love you. How much we all love you."_ His choice of words was not the best, and perhaps gave away a little too much than he intended.

"It's just another party, Luke..." Tasha commented, smiling lightly in spite of his comment. She was used to him acting strangely by now, but that didn't leave her without bewilderment at his unusual demeanor. When he wasn't feeling off, he was like a fun-loving and affectionate teddy bear, almost. Lucas was considerably older than her - he'd married Moira when Tasha was just seven years old - but he'd always acted young for his age and that's how he'd managed to stay so close to her. She missed the _old_ Lucas.

Nobody noticed how Christian slipped away yet again to hide away in a nearby bush of hydrangeas - he was watching carefully as his father hugged Tasha and everybody departed. Tasha took off towards the Palace to mingle with the other Royals, and the two cars took off, becoming visibly smaller as they drove off into the distance.

Lucas and Moira already believed their son to be riding with them, and Christian knew this. It was the perfect cover to tell Nolan, who was initially led to believe Christian would be riding with his parents in their car. Something about 'gross romantic talk', a few beguiling facial expressions, and the nine-year-old had conned his way into watching fireworks with his favorite aunt Natasha.

Meanwhile, as the car holding Moira and Lucas drifted further from Court and into the isolated roads of the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania, the plan was about to be set into action.

Except there was _one major flaw_.

Moira had noticed this, as had Lucas. But Moira was furious -- it was too late to go back, now. The show had to go on, and they would deal with that flaw in due time.

"Nolan, stop the car," she ordered. Her voice was saccharine-sweet but it wasn't impossible to detect the rage in her tone.

"Yes, Lady Ozera," Nolan replied. They were driving ahead of Ira, but Moira had wanted Christian in their car, with her and Lucas. This was another reason they'd not wanted Guardian Locke traveling with them. If he detected any trouble, he could have driven off with Christian back to Court and everything would be _ruined_.

"Where is Christian, _Guardian Orr_?" she asked as he finally pulled off to the side of the road. Moira knew precisely where Christian was, but she wanted to hear it from _Nolan_.

"In not quite the same terms, Lady Ozera, he told me he wanted to ride with Ira instead. To give you both your privacy..." he replied thickly. She could hear his heart skip a beat - he was nervous, and rightfully so. "I will talk to Ira. One moment, please."

_SNAP!_

Nolan Orr's neck made a sick crack as Lucas violently twisted Nolan's head between his hands. The human feeder riding with them opened her mouth to scream at the sudden display of violence, but Moira's hand clamped down tightly over the feeder's mouth before she began feeding off of the girl, her fangs sinking deeply into the young woman's jugular vein. It only took a moment for the endorphins to kick in and she stopped fighting against Moira, swooning before eventually passing out from the blood loss.

Lucas had already drained Nolan of his blood. The closer Nolan got to death, the paler Lucas's skin became. Once he'd crossed that fine line between life and death, his once-blue irises had been tainted with a deep scarlet and his skin was deathly white. Nolan was slumped forward in the driver's seat, his eyes wide and empty, neck bent at an awkward angle from where Lucas had broken it.

Picking up his phone, Lucas listened over the voicemails left by Natasha. "Oh my son..." he whispered with a smile. If it wasn't for his terrifying new façade, he might have looked genuinely thrilled or happy. "Such a clever boy, but so very troublesome."

Moira moved to join her husband's side, a hand moving to squeeze his shoulder. He turned his head to face her.

"We know where he is. The sun will be up soon, and we need to find shelter before that happens," he reminded her. "The guardians will find us out soon enough. My sister won't stay at the country house for long with Christian. Things will be too crazy, everybody will be talking and she will want to hide Christian away from it all."

The door to the car opened suddenly, but Guardian Locke was not prepared for what he saw. He wasn't prepared to die, either. As soon as he'd seen Lucas and Moira, or the "dead" faces that replaced theirs, his heart dropped to his stomach.

Ira knew Christian was back at Court, at this point. He, too, had received a voicemail from Tasha explaining his absence. He only managed to pull out his silver stake before Lucas lunged for him at incredible speed, knocking Ira on his back. Before he could collect air enough to breathe again, Lucas pulled him up by his collar and threw him into the side of the car Nolan was driving. Glass shattered, and Ira coughed in pain as he was pulled up by his neck.

Moira's hand wrapped tightly around Ira's neck, holding him down. Her nails were sharp and dug into his throat, and Ira was trying desperately to pry her off. His stake laid on the dirt road, far out of his reach.

"It's really a shame, Ira," Moira hissed, her grip growing tighter on his throat. He watched her in terror, fingers clawing at her arm. "You couldn't keep track of our _son_? What makes you think you're capable of protecting _anybody_ when you've already displayed your utter _incompetence_ twice this night?"

Ira whimpered, unable to breathe or even speak. He could only make incomprehensible grunting noises. Moira was impossibly strong, and he could feel himself slipping out of consciousness.

"I think the Moroi have it backwards," she smiled. "They keep you alive so you can further embarrass yourself. We're doing _you_ and everybody around you a _kindness_."

That was the last thing he heard before he felt Lucas snap his neck. His body was thrown into a collection of bushes off the road. Lucas and Moira took his car and drove off in search of shelter from the sun, leaving three bodies to be found.


	2. Part Two

It didn't take long for Natasha and Vinh to find Christian in the hydrangea bushes. He'd heard them coming and when Vinh pulled Christian out, Natasha had a hard time being angry with her nephew. Dialing Moira's phone number, Natasha explained the situation, hoping that it would quell Moira's rage. Of course, Tasha didn't know yet what had transpired, but they would learn soon enough.

Christian watched the fireworks with Tasha, in awe of how extravagant they were. Tasha explained that they were enhanced with fire magic. Since Christian had already displayed such talent with his own, she concluded he'd be a powerful fire user when he grew older. Their fun was cut short, however, as it began to rain. The trio ran back to their townhouse, blissfully ignorant as they changed into dry clothes and got ready to sleep for the day. Christian was tuckered out and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. Vinh tucked him in before sliding off to have an affectionate, private moment with Tasha. 

Lucas and Moira had put considerable distance between themselves and the Royal Court after they’d left Nolan and Ira’s bodies to be found. Moira was whining about the current living arrangements, insisting she and Lucas were meant to be in a swanky hotel room, not some stupid cave like animals. 

“Silence, Moira. This is only for tonight and you know it. The sun will be up soon and we can't be caught in it or we'll never get Christian back with us,” chastised Lucas. “They won’t stay at the country house. Too much scrutiny. Instead they’ll move on to my uncle Ronald’s vacation home in Poughkeepsie - it’s close enough but still far away from Court. I expect news of us has spread, by now." 

"As long as it's _only_ tonight," Moira purred. "And then, we get our son back. It's going to be just you, me, and Christian. Forever." 

"Forever," agreed Lucas. Any concerns he'd had for his mortality now were long-gone. Strigoi didn't need sleep, so waiting out the rest of the day in a cave was not ideal, but as he suspected, news of what he and Moira had done spread quickly. Guardians regularly patrolled the roads surrounding Court and when they saw the abandoned car, they knew these deaths had been foul play. With Lucas and Moira nowhere to be found, things looked grim. 

Tasha and Vinh were interrupted by guardians bursting through the door, demanding to know where Lucas and Moira were, and if Tasha knew. The commotion had woken Christian, and soon they were taken back to the Palace for questioning. 

When it was Tasha's turn for questioning, a group of novices visiting from Russia were passing through. Vinh introduced Tasha to one of them - a skilled guardian-to-be that went by the name _Dimitri Belikov_. He had a strong accent, but he spoke English very well. 

Dimitri offered to sit by Christian and make sure nobody bothered him while Vinh and Tasha were inside the conference room with the other guardians, which Tasha accepted graciously. She couldn't begin to fathom how Christian was feeling - he seemed to be holding it together well enough, but she knew deep down her nephew didn't know how to process the fact his parents, for better or worse, were _dead_. _She_ couldn't even fathom her own feelings. Everything was numb, almost to the point she felt nauseous. 

As for Christian, all he could really do was stare blankly at the fancy marble flooring. He was alive, and safe - _for now_. But he was beginning to realize the severity of everything, including his own actions that night. Three people were _dead_. The guardians said his parents were Strigoi, and had chosen it, and he was old enough to know what that meant. _Five people_. Three dead, two missing Strigoi. 

He'd lied to get his way, and now three people were dead - not even Strigoi. Just _dead_ , though in comparison to being Strigoi, death was really not the worst fate. He was horrified with himself. When he told Dimitri what he'd done, Dimitri didn't laugh or smile. How could he? He wasn't angry, either, however. 

"Lord Ozera..." Dimitri replied sadly with a shake of his head. "There's no way you could have known what was going to happen, tonight. Don't blame yourself for this, please. It isn't your fault. The important part is that you are alive and safe here, at the Court. And _not_ with your parents." 

"But I lied to them, Dimitri... I made Guardian Locke and Guardian Orr believe..." 

"I know, Lord Ozera... You feel bad about it. I know you do, and that's more than what can be said for some other people I know. Remorse is a powerful thing, and it makes you a better person in the long run. But you can't let it consume you. You can't change what happened, but you can be better. You can _do_ better." 

Pulling a notepad off a nearby counter, Dimitri scrawled out a mailing address in Russia as well as his phone number. 

"I want you to take this, Lord Ozera. Give it to your aunt Natasha. If you ever need to talk to somebody, I'm here for you. You've suffered a terrible tragedy, and coming out of it won't be easy for either of you. But you won't have any judgement from me, I promise - neither of you deserve to be judged for this. Not now, not ever. Promise me you'll keep in touch?" 

Christian nodded and took the piece of paper from Dimitri, folding it in half before putting it in his coat pocket. "Thank you, Dimitri..." 

"Please, Lord Ozera, call me Dimka if you like," the dhampir smiled, patting Christian on the shoulder gently. "Or _Dima_. Those are what my family and friends would call me in Russia." 

A fleeting little smile surfaced on Christian's face. "You don't have to keep calling me Lord Ozera if we're friends, either, Dima. Just call me by my name." 

Dimitri actually chuckled this time. "Fair enough. Christian, it is." 

Christian's head turned as Tasha and Vinh resurfaced from the room. Tasha knelt down in front of Christian, pushing his black hair out of his face. Her thumb was smoothing over his cheek. For all intents and purposes, _Tasha_ was his mother, now, young as she was. "Are you ready to go, sweetheart? We aren't staying here at Court, we're going to lay low for a while, but first we have to visit Uncle Ronald." 

Christian nodded. "I'm ready," he replied quietly. He was feeling a little better thanks to Dimitri, and while he knew now what had happened wasn't _his fault_ , he was still upset at everything else. "I just want to sleep. Talking to Dima helped a bit." 

" _Dima_?" Tasha smiled, her eyes flickering over to Dimitri, who scratched his head awkwardly as he laughed a little. 

"Yes, Lady Ozera. I told him he could call me Dimka or Dima if he wanted," he replied politely. "I also gave him my mailing address in Baia and my family's phone number. Even if I'm not there, my mother Olena or my grandmother Yeva would be happy to talk to him." 

"That was very kind of you, Dima." Vinh replied with a grin. "I would go find the other novices. Thank you for taking over while we were in there. I'll take over from here, мой друг." 

"Of course, Guardian Khuc," Dimitri smiled, bowing his head. Patting Christian's shoulder and nodding curtly at Natasha, Dimitri disappeared down the hallway and around the corner to find his entourage. 

Tasha, Christian, and Vinh left the Palace and Tasha went off with Christian to Ronald's Court home, knocking on his door. When he answered, Tasha spoke. "Uncle, I want to go to your estate in Poughkeepsie." 

Christian could see the shock in his Uncle's face - Tasha hadn't beat around the bush. The pair argued for a few minutes until Tasha finally got the upper hand - she had the voting power in her family, now that Lucas and Moira were dead. Christian hadn't been present for Ronald's dumb speech about how "Ozeras needed to look after one another", but he'd apparently been quick to turn his back on Tasha and Christian when they needed his help the most, and Tasha wasn't above using his words against him. 

"If you want to hold on to any hope of being elected to the Ozera council seat, you will give me those keys, _now_ ," she demanded. 

Defeated, Ronald turned over his keys to the estate. When Tasha and Christian were once again with Vinh, they were assigned another guardian named Jonas - half so they could each have their own protection, but half because Tasha was suspect and they were more concerned with keeping _Christian_ safe. He wasn't old enough to protect himself if anything did happen, and he certainly wasn't old enough to drain anybody and become Strigoi, himself. 

When they finally reached Ronald's estate, the place was covered in dust. Ronald hadn't been there in quite some time. Christian went off to have some alone time in the home theatre while Tasha finally gave in to her exhaustion and passed out on a sofa in the parlor. Jonas was outside patrolling, and Vinh was watching over Tasha as she slept. 

When she was awake again, she was disoriented and panicked when she realized she didn't know where Christian was, but Vinh assured her he knew exactly where Christian was and that he just needed to process everything that'd happened. They were all dealing with the aftermath in their own ways, but the aftermath was about to get much worse. 

A scream sounded outside, and instantly Vinh went into guardian mode. _Lucas and Moira were here_. Handing Tasha a gun, he told her to run and find Christian, and to use the gun if anything happened. She didn't _want_ to leave him, but he urged her to seek Christian out and keep him safe. Jonas couldn't be helped - he was dead. 

It was up to Vinh to keep them safe, and he knew very well this would be his last night alive. Facing one Strigoi by himself would be hard enough, but two of them? He needed to buy Tasha time, and he wasn't going to go out without a fight. He'd pledged his life to keeping Natasha and Christian Ozera safe, and that's exactly what he planned to do until his dying breath. 

When Lucas appeared in the living room doorway, she froze. Everything about him was the same, except for his skin and his eyes. He was terrifying, and it took Vinh's voice to remind her that _this wasn't her brother_. Not anymore. Lucas Ozera was dead - this was a monster wearing his face. Moira crashed through the window, and Tasha had to force herself to run when she saw them both attack Vinh, at once. She was beyond terrified. It was only her and Christian, now. 

Tasha ran for the stairs and yelled through the halls in a panic, trying to find Christian. When she saw him poke his head out, she pushed him into the room he'd taken up and closed the door. 

"What's happening? They're here, aren't they?" Christian asked as Tasha shoved him into the room. 

Moira and Lucas kicked in the door with little effort and Tasha muttered to Christian, standing defensively between him and the two Strigoi closing in on them. "Those aren't your parents," she muttered quietly to him. 

"Of course we are, and we want to be with our son." Moira countered, slowly advancing in on the pair. Her red eyes flickered towards Christian and he winced. 

Tasha was pulling Christian towards the French doors, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He'd never seen a Strigoi before - only in the videos they'd watched at school. Seeing them in a video where they were contained and couldn't hurt you was one thing. Seeing one _in the flesh_ was something that terrified you to the core, and it was a difficult feeling to shake, that dread and fear. 

"I'll _die_ before I'll let you kill him..." she snarled at Moira. Lucas was close behind, his eyes zeroed in on Tasha and Christian. There was blood all over his mouth and chin - _Jonas and Vinh's blood_. Christian clung even harder to Tasha once his father spoke. 

"We don't want to kill him. We want him to join us. You can too, but that's your choice. It makes no difference to us. With or _without_ your consent, we're leaving with Christian." 

"You want to _turn_ him? Keep him nine forever?" Tasha cried. 

"We want to _keep_ him," Moira spoke. "Keep him until he's of age, and _then_ we'll Awaken him." 

These really weren't his parents. While Christian had mostly calmed down earlier, all his anxiety came flooding right back and he couldn't keep it at bay anymore. His eyes welled with tears and he blinked as the drops of water ran down his cheeks. He wanted this to be over. He wanted them _gone_. 

"There's nowhere else you can go." Lucas warned Tasha. They were cornered now, and Christian hid his face in Tasha's side, shaking his head as Moira tried to sweet-talk him into coming with her willingly. 

Before he knew it, he and Tasha were on the balcony and Tasha was threatening to pull them both off and jump. There was no way they'd survive a fall from that height, but death was far better than becoming one of _them_. In the moment, it was a risk Tasha was more than willing to take, if she had to. 

Everything in the next few seconds was a blur. Christian didn't even have time to process as Lucas crashed into his sister and Christian was yanked away from Tasha. Her screams and his own filled the room as they were separated and he knew Tasha was in unbearable pain judging by the sound of hers. Moira had a firm grip on her son, her arm secured around his shoulders. He saw the immense amount of blood when Lucas pulled away from Tasha, and it was gruesome. Her cheek had been all but torn off by her brother's bite as he pinned her in the doorway of the balcony. 

Moments later, he saw his father's jacket catch fire - Tasha had used what little concentration and energy she had to try and ward him off of her. Fire was most lethal to the Strigoi, and Moira was too distracted by the thought of losing her mate to keep a hold on Christian any longer. While Moira was trying to get Lucas's burning jacket off of him without risking burning herself, Christian bolted for Tasha. She had tried gesturing for him to run away to safety, but he wasn't going to and clung to her. 

"I won't leave you!" he protested. Tasha looked awful, and he could only imagine how much pain she was in. Her hand was pressed to her cheek, desperately trying to keep her maimed face together. One way or another, he was going to at least _try_ to help. He watched as Tasha tried to conjure another flame - and he saw as a massive one shot straight for the Strigoi he once called his mother... and _missed_. The rug caught instead, and while Christian knew his own magic wasn't the greatest, he still tried to redirect it towards Moira. It almost worked, but it wasn't quite enough. He didn't have enough control to do anything significant, yet. Tasha pat his shoulder and pulled him towards the balcony again. They couldn't get out through the regular door, the fire was getting too big for them to pass. Their only option was to jump. 

That was until Christian spotted them - _the guardians_. Ronald must have tipped the guardians off to where Tasha and Christian had gone, because several of them poured in along with Janine Hathaway. Each of them had a shiny silver stake, and Tasha turned him away from the scene. She didn't even bother covering his eyes, he had turned his head in the opposite direction as soon as he saw the guardians closing in on his parents. 

He could hear someone shouting from below, and looked to see that some more people were carrying a massive ladder towards the balcony. 

Things in the room had gone silent, except for the crackling of burning wood –  
Christian knew that Lucas and Moira had been put down.  
It was over. His parents were dead. _Truly_ dead. 

Now, the priority was getting off this balcony. They helped him down first, and then took extra care to help his aunt down to the ground level of Ronald's estate. While they took Natasha off immediately to a hospital for emergency surgery on her face, Christian was temporarily taken back to Court. He wanted to stay at the hospital with Tasha, but was told being stuck at the hospital was no place for a child. 

Christian was given a few choices - he could either go to the school near the Court, be homeschooled by Tasha in Minneapolis once she was better, or be sent to St. Vladimir's Academy in Montana. Ultimately, it was a difficult choice for him, but he'd chosen Montana. He already knew it wouldn't be easy to be away from his aunt, but he didn't want to be a burden on her, and especially didn't want to be anywhere near Court. St. Vlad's felt like the best choice he had. 

_"It's okay, Aunt Tasha. I can handle whatever happens."_


End file.
